Reuters Odd News Summary

May 11, 2012|Reuters

Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.

Divorce courts mirror society as more women pay alimony

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tables have turned in U.S. divorcecourts with more women paying their former husbands alimony andchild support than ever before, according to U.S. lawyers. Aswomen climb higher up the career ladder and outpace their exesin salary, when love goes wrong and marriages break up they arebeing compelled to contribute to the livelihood of their formerspouses.

Gambling, drinking monks raise hell in South Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - Six leaders from South Korea's biggestBuddhist order have quit after secret video footage showed somesupposedly serene monks raising hell, playing high-stakespoker, drinking and smoking. The scandal erupted just daysbefore Koreans observe a national holiday to celebrate thebirth of Buddha, the holiest day of the religion's calendar.

Handshake ends S.African ``Tempest in a D-cup'' race row

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Two models at the eye of a racestorm that has exposed the thin veneer of social harmony inSouth Africa 18 years after the end of apartheid shook hands onThursday and vowed to work towards Nelson Mandela's vision of anon-racial ``Rainbow Nation.'' The brouhaha erupted last weekwhen 20-year-old blonde Jessica Leandra dos Santos - voted'2011 Model of the Year' by readers of men's magazine FHM -tweeted about an ``arrogant and disrespectful kaffir'' she hadencountered at a supermarket.

German man has last laugh with ``new home'' obituary

BERLIN (Reuters) - A man who announced his change ofaddress in a local newspaper sparked national media attentionon Thursday due to the unusual location of his ``new home'' - sixfeet under the ground. Karl Albrecht, who died last month atthe age of 88, penned the obituary himself in the style of amoving notice, inviting friends to a ``lively'' celebration athis new lodgings in a cemetery in Hamburg, northern Germany.

Scientists may recreate beer from 1840's shipwreck

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Want a 170-year-old beer? Finnishresearchers say they may be able to recreate beer from the1840s after finding living bacteria in beer from a shipwrecknear Aland islands.

World's biggest boxes of pasta on sale in Turkey

ROME (Reuters) - Shoppers can buy a half-tonne box of pastafrom Thursday at supermarkets in Turkey, but not in the world'sspaghetti capital of Italy. Too heavy and too big for theshopping trolley, delivery is included in the price.

Foreigners can't pick new German names, court rules

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court has refused to allow afamily to shed their ``foreign-sounding'' names for new Germanones they said would protect them from discrimination and aidintegration into a country becoming attractive for immigrants.The family, living in Germany under asylum after fleeingAzerbaijan, were given the opportunity to take on Germanversions of their names, some of which carry Islamicassociations, the administrative court in Goettingen, in thestate of Lower Saxony, said in a document.